That’s when the family came to a startling realization: Their “puppy” was really a black bear.

“The more he grew, the more like a bear he looked,” explained Yun, who lives near the city of Kunming in Yunnan province. “I am a little scared of bears.”

When the family discovered their fuzzy friend was really a bear, they contacted the Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Center, which sedated the animal and took him into the center’s care.

The animal turned out to be an endangered Asiatic Black Bear, the London Telegraph reported. The family purchased him in 2016 while they were on vacation. They had initially believed he was a Tibetan mastiff.

Tibetan mastiff

According to media reports, others have taken in bears after mistakenly assuming they were dogs.